Re: Follow up to the question on Earth's mass gain each year by Scott on Jano

Compared to the mass of the Earth, mass gain by debris from space is
negligible, even over extremely long periods of time.

If the mass of Earth is 5.97 X 10^24 kg (Pasachoff and Filipenko), and
the mass gained by Earth from space debris is between 10^6 and 10^8 kg
(Morbidelli et al. 1994; Farley, 2002), then Earth gains

10^6/(5.977X10^24) = 1.67 X 10^(-16) % each year.  Waaaaay too little to
matter.





Pasachoff and Filipenko. 2001, The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millenium, 
Harcourt College Publishers.

Morbidelli et al. 1994, Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 282, p. 955-979.

Farley, Ken. 2002, UCLA Rubey Colloquium: Impacts and the Origin, 
Evolution, and Extinction of Life.